Stakeholders Participation and Project Sustainability among Development Agencies in Uganda. A Case of Unicef Child Friendly Schools/ Quality Education Project in Rural Government Primary Schools, Nadunget Sub County , Moroto District.

Abstract

This Research sought to establish the influence of stakeholders’ participation on project sustainability with specific reference to UNICEF- CFS - quality education project in rural government primary schools, in Nadunget Sub County, Moroto, Uganda. The study focused on 06 government primary schools located in Nadunget sub county, Moroto district with a sample size of 161 respondents drawn from the study population determined using Kreijcie and Morgan (1970) statistical table, these included; Project Staff, Headteachers, Deputy Head Teachers, Teachers for Upper primary, School Management Committee Members, Parents Teachers Association Members, Pupils, Sub county Administrative Officer and Local leader. This study was based on a cross sectional study design with both qualitative and quantitative methods. Data collection techniques used were, Questionnaire survey, Interview guide, Documentary review, Focus group discussions and Observation method. And two types of data were collected, primary and secondary data. Quantitative data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistical measures and was supported using SPSS version 19. While qualitative data was analysed thematically so as to simplify its organisation, categorization, retrieval in order to establish meaningful themes of relationships between data collected on the study problem. Findings indicate that, the four themes of the independent variable were significant predictors of project sustainability. It was further found out that much as findings obtained from questionnaires & interviews conducted with key stakeholders indicated that majority of the stakeholders were involved in all the four stages of CFS project management. However, findings obtained from children, Local leaders among others indicated their non involvement in CFS activities let alone their views were not incorporated. This led to poor communication & coordination of CFS project and the researcher recommended that UNICEF develops appropriate strategies to involve all stakeholders right from project identification to Monitoring & Evaluation so as to realize CFS project sustainability.